Random musings about the state and direction of educational technology usage in the classrooms of today.

Saturday

Increasing Student Achievement Using Technology

Here's a story about something that I have known about intuitively for quite some time: Student achievement is not impacted through the use of technology in their classroom UNLESS teachers are taught how to integrate tech into their daily practice.

I have been talking, even evangelizing about this fact since I stated in my teaching career after entering the field from the business world. It's heartening to see the conversations and research starting to trickle out that mirrors what I have been thinking.

More than two-thirds of teachers surveyed in a recent inquiry said they were not getting any substantial improvements in academic progress from their participation in a one-computer-per-student program, said Tom Greaves, an education consultant and member of Project Inkwell. Project Inkwell was founded and is run by Mark Anderson, the organizer of FIRe and head of Strategic News Service, to help get technology into classrooms.

While that may sound dismal, last year it was even worse: only 17 percent of those surveyed said they were noticing substantial academic progress from one-to-one programs, Greaves said. The problem is that while computers are nice and all, they must be part of a teaching plan and a community's educational mission, and teachers need help figuring out the best ways to use the computers.

The observations were part of the Future in Review conference. Additional information about the study and how to best prepare teachers to integrate tech into their teaching can be seen at Project Inkwell.